CONTROL OF FLAX INDUSTRY

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22141, 10 July 1937, Page 13

CONTROL OF FLAX INDUSTRY

Plan Offered Millers And Growers STATE PROTECTION ASKED Control of the flax industry in New Zealand by an industrial committee set up under the Industrial Efficiency Act, 1936, and protection by the restriction of imports of raw material are suggested in a plan which has been drawn up for the rehabilitation of the industry and on which growers and millers will be asked to vote at a series of meetings to be held throughout New Zealand. Committees set up by the industry and representatives of the Bureau of Industry have now produced the plan which is to be submitted to the industry, and it is recommended that the committee to control the industry should consist of four representatives of millers and growers, one merchant, one manufacturer of flax products, one flax worker, and two Government representatives, one of whom is to be chairman. That is the suggestion of the industry; the Bureau of Industry asks for three representatives of the Government.

The plan proposes a continuance of Government assistance to the industry by the provision of a subsidy for fiveyear periods on the fibre exported, the subsidy to be reviewed from time to time within the period. Any adjustment will be relative to the cost of production by a reasonably efficient mill, and with allowance for a reasonable margin of profit. The licensing of mills will be followed, according to the proposals, by an advisory service for millers to be established by the Government. Finance may be provided for the industry if approved by the control committee and recommended by the Bureau of Industry.

Control of Marketing:

The marketing of the fibre will be under the supervision of the control committee, which will be responsible for the efficient organisation of marketing in the interests of the industry, including the provision of standards. The committee drawing up the plan asks for Government protection for the development of the domestic textile industry by the restriction of imports of raw or manufactured material as occasion warrants, and it also seeks to foster the domestic manufacture of textiles and cordage from the fibre. A State experimental station and mill are also wanted. It is suggested that the Government propagate plants of approved strains for distribution through the commercial areas and for supplying a State mill with a capacity of 300 tons a year. Having surveyed this plan, growers and millers are asked to complete a questionnaire about their existing businesses and to vote for or against the adoption of the plan. Christchurch representatives of millers had no comment to make on the plan; they were waiting, they said, until a vote had been taken on its wisdom. They remarked on the quantity of flax which was grown some years ago on the banks of the Cam river from native plants, but would give no opinion about the possibility of the revival of the industry in that district under the proposed control scheme.

The only meeting of South Island growers will be held at Invercargill later this month.